1. Field of the Invention
The invention concerns an apparatus for transferring pieces of soft consistency, in particular fish fillets, from a first conveying direction which extends essentially in the direction of their longitudinal axis into a second conveying direction which extends essentially transversely thereto, the apparatus comprising feeding or supplying means and a delivery conveyor which follows the feeding means and runs essentially transversely thereto.
2. Prior Art
In automatic processing machines, as are used industrially these days, e.g. for producing skinned fish fillets, the mechanical process of treatment normally ends after the fillets have passed the skinning device. After that, the fillets undergo a quality inspection by way of visual inspection in order to detect quality reducing deficiencies such as remainders of fins or bones resulting from faulty cutting/ filleting, remainders of black belly skin as well as attack by parasites, and, if necessary to remove such deficiencies by manual treatment, which is known as "trimming". In view of the usual production speed, which, in the case of smaller or medium-sized bulk fish, is 240 fillets per minute and even more, this process, which is necessary for safeguarding the quality of the product, requires much personnel, which correspondingly entrains high costs. One of the factors which causes and increases such costs is the fact that the fillets must be placed singly and consecutively spread out on both sides for the purpose of an effective quality checking, which is in particular necessary in order to detect parasites (nematodes).
With regard to economics, the speed at which the fillets to be inspected pass the inspecting person is an essential point. One has to consider a tolerable limit speed which normally lies far below the speed of production of the fillets. For this reason, it is conventional in practice to divide the flow of fillets, i.e. to guide the left and right fillets into separate paths, respectively, and to reduce the speed of each path in addition by transferring the fillets from their longitudinal conveyance, with the tail end leading due to the processing which occurred before, into a transversal conveying. Such transferring enables a greater positioning density on the conveyor guiding the fillets further because then the smaller dimension of width of the fillets will only have to be taken into account for the sequence of fillets in contrast to the larger dimension of length.
However, there are certain difficulties in the transition of the fillets onto the transversal conveyor due to the varying kinetic energy, dependent on the respective mass, inhering in the arriving fillets. This varying energy has to be destroyed in the transition area of the conveyors without losing the stretched position of the fillets and/or without any distortion or twisting of the fillets occurring.
3. Objects of the Invention
It is therefore an essential object of the present invention to suggest a device which enables an exact, reliable and speedy transferring of fillets from a first direction of conveyance, which is essentially in the longitudinal direction, of the fillets into a second direction of conveyance, which is essentially transversal thereto. In particular, it is an object of the invention to safeguard a depositing of the fillets on the transversal conveyor performing the further guiding of the fillets in a streched position and essentially without any twisting or distorting of the fillets.